Do you believe God allows us free choice concerning the person we are supposed to marry? Do you think there is one perfect spouse for me or do you think that there are many different girls I could choose to marry that God would approve of?
Once I was interested in girl. I felt God say, ‘She is not My best plan for your life but if you pursue her, she will be yours.’ In other words, God gave me permission to have a relationship with her if I wanted to do so, but God did not feel she was the best. She was not outside of God’s moral will (I can date whomever I choose as long as she is a believer) but she was outside God’s advice. I did not end up marrying her either.”
“So how did you finally decide to marry Jessica?”
“When I met Jessica, she fit me and my life calling perfectly and I fit hers. She was already experienced on the mission field. She loved God; she loved people, and she loved me. During our courtship, I only had green lights and confirmations that we were right for each other. I never felt a yellow light or check in my spirit that something was amiss. A year later, I took action and proposed. I know God celebrated my decision to marry Jessica. We ended up being perfect for one another.”
Jessica’s Story in Her Own Words
“I graduated from a Bible school that taught every believer is called to obey the Great Commission to ‘go into all the world and preach the Gospel.’ I was taught that any believer could go to the mission field for a time even without a prophetic word that said ‘Thus sayeth the Lord, go’ because Jesus commanded all believers to go. When an opportunity came for me to go on a one-year trip to India, I did not feel called to be a missionary. But one night I responded to an altar call for those who were 100% dedicated to doing the will of God.
While I was kneeling at the front of the church, I heard God whisper to me, ‘Do you believe in the Great Commission?’
‘Of course I do,’ I responded. Then I heard Him say, ‘Do you believe in the Great Commission enough to go and do something about it?’ That night, out of simple obedience to God and His Word, I made a commitment to go to the mission field for one year.
My first few months in India were miserable. I just wanted to finish my twelve months and go home. But I vividly remember the night God called me to be a missionary. I was laying on a thin mattress on a concrete floor in southern India. The electricity had just gone off and the overhead fan no longer moved the hot, humid air in the tiny room. Laying in the darkness, soaking my pillow with sweat, I counted over sixty mosquito bites on my body. God gently spoke to my heart in the darkness, ‘Jessica, this is the life I have called you to.’
I did not know whether to laugh or to cry. All I knew was that God wanted me to work on the mission field for the rest of my life. I felt relieved to finally know my lifetime calling regardless of what it was or the hardships I was bound to face.
The next morning I jumped out of bed and walked to a nearby Internet café to e-mail my headquarters and make a commitment to return to India for a second year. I stepped out onto the mission field with nothing but a simple desire to obey God’s Word. But, once I arrived in India, God gave me a clear direction that would last the rest of my life.”
